Update: This giveaway is now closed, and the winners are — lloydrv (tablet kit), visual360photography (smartphone kit), chinoy885 (smartphone kit), and bamfhacker (tablet kit). All winners have been contacted. Thank you for entering, and keep your eye out for more Gear Diary Giveaways! =)

Last year 57% of 5200 people surveyed admitted using their phones in the bathroom, and this year 27% of 500 people surveyed admitted to checking Facebook while ‘otherwise indisposed’. Another survey this year said that 56% of an undisclosed number of people use their mobile device in the bathroom, and of those, 27% of the 56% are playing games, while 70% of that 56% admitted that they were actually talking on their phones. Are you with me so far? Good. My point is that people are using their mobile devices in some pretty risky areas.

Of course, being dropped in a toilet isn’t the only way to soak a handset; I managed to temporarily kill my iPhone 4 last summer when I tilted it the wrong way to capture a picture while it was raining. Boy, did I feel dumb. Upon the advice of several friends, I put my iPhone in a bag full of uncooked white rice; the idea being that rice is a low-tech desiccant, similar to the little silica balls that come in everything from beef jerky to new tennis shoes, even if not quite as effective.

While I believe that the rice did help dry my device out more thoroughly, I noticed afterward that a white powdery residue was inside my charging port, so maybe rice wasn’t the best solution. A suggestion for the future was that I start saving the little silica packs every time I came across them … but I never really got started with that project. =P

Now that it’s summer, there are even more opportunities for devices to die from watery deaths; whether the damage occurs from an accidental washing, dunking, rain shower, impromptu swim, accidental spill — or any other disaster. The thought of having to cough up the money to replace a damaged device that isn’t fixed by the rice trick is galling, especially when you consider that it was your own klutziness or carelessness that killed your electronic item.

And of course, there is a better solution.

When I was offered the chance to review a couple of products from DRY-ALL, including their Wet Smartphone Emergency Kit and Wet Electronic Tablet Emergency Kit, I considered it kismet. Assuming that I would be able to prove that the kit worked as promised, I figured having product on hand that was effective in even the worst accidents would mean that I wouldn’t ever need it; it’s funny how that seems to work.

Opening the four latches on the box reveals that the kit is divided into two areas: unlike the dry rice trick, the phone will not sit directly in the beads. Notice how there are some blue beads mixed in with all the white ones? The kit is supposed to still be good for future uses until those blue beads are gone.

I had a few beads that had escaped to the top of the tray during shipping; I just lifted a corner of the tray to put them back where they belonged.

According to DRY-ALL:

The Wet Smartphone Emergency Kit by DRY-ALL uses proprietary blue bead drying technology to dry any wet smart phone fast. The wet Smartphone emergency kit works by using the most effective and aggressive dehumidifier for electronics available anywhere in the world. The patented moisture absorption chamber dries wet Smartphone’s in as little as six hours by pulling the moisture out of the inside your phone. When all directions are followed the wet Smartphone emergency kit has a 100% success rate. The one of a kind absorbent used in DRY-ALLs wet Smartphone kit works better than any other drying remedy out there.

The instructions are simple: once the device has been soaked, don’t press any buttons, remove the battery immediately (or on the iPhone, turn the phone off), rinse with distilled water if the phone has fallen into anything other than water, towel dry the phone, and then place it in the red container face up.

Depending upon how long the phone has been in the water, it may need to be left in the red box for 6 to 48 hours, but possibly even longer.

I should mention that I was also sent a one-use Wet Electronic Tablet Emergency Kit; I’m sure that you’ll understand why I decided to save it for a day when my Kindle or iPad takes an unplanned swim.

My original plan was to test the kit with Kev’s old Nokia N82, since that phone has been sitting idle in a drawer ever since he got his iPhone. Unfortunately, that was long enough for the N82’s battery to stop responding to charging.

I needed a phone that worked so that I could prove or disprove the DRY-ALL kit’s effectiveness, but I couldn’t sacrifice a phone that would cause a major loss if the kit didn’t work for me; in other words, there was no way I was going to dunk my Vertu Constellation Quest (and not only because it has leather trim!) or my iPhone 4 (it’s still under warranty!). Luckily, I had a working phone that I considered expendable: the T-Mobile myTouch 3G.

With my helpful assistant, Daisy, I approached our pool with phone, towel, camera, and DRY-ALL kit in hand. Daisy tested the water to make sure that it was cold and wet; it was.

So I proceeded to drop the phone on the first step … and I left it there for about five seconds. The only problem is that when I pulled it out of the water, the myTouch was still working just fine [way to go, HTC!]. So I dropped the myTouch back in and watched the screen go dark after about 30 seconds.

And here is result: one soggy and dark myTouch 3G.

Awwww …

First I gave it a thorough wipe-down …

… then I removed the battery door and the battery. (I didn’t think to remove the SIM, because mine is a deactivated one that I leave installed so I won’t get a no-SIM warning).

I placed the phone (minus its removed accessories) on the kit’s tray, lying face-up.

I clamped the case closed and collected my pieces to bring inside.

•._•´¯`•._.•´¯`•Fast forward 24 hours•´¯`•._.•´¯`•._.•

I just reinstalled the battery and battery cover; I turned on the phone and found …

The myTouch 3G works perfectly, and it seems to have no ill effects from its dunking! Color me impressed! =D

This is exactly the type of solution that I needed when my iPhone got wet last summer, and I’ll bet that you can think of close calls or maybe even a time when your phone got unexpectedly dunked. A DRY-ALL Wet Smartphone Emergency Kit sitting in a cabinet at home, in the trunk of your car, or in your office would provide a ready solution and peace of mind. The instructions are simple, and the kit is so easy to use that anyone could use it to save their phone.

MSRP: $59.99 for the reusable (up to five times) smartphone kit (or get it for $46.98 from our Amazon affiliate store); $49.99 for the one-time use tablet kit (or get it for $38.53 from Amazon); $29.99 for the one-time use cellular phone kit (or get it for $24.96 from Amazon)

What I Like: The kit works; easy to use; saves phones from unexpected dunkings; multiple uses from the smartphone kit; much less to buy the kit than to replace a phone!

What Needs Improvement: Nothing; it works as promised

We have two Wet Smartphone Emergency Kits and two Wet Electronic Tablet Emergency Kits to give away! To win one, please leave a short comment about a close call or actual dunking your device or a friend’s has been through. If you (or your friend) managed to salvage the device, make sure you tell what method was used. Also be sure to let us know whether you would like a smartphone kit or the tablet kit. I’ll leave the contest open until midnight CT, Friday, June 24th when I will randomly choose a winner. Good luck! =)

I have had a fascination with all types of gadgets and gizmos since I was a child, beginning with the toy robot that my grandmother gave my brother - which I promptly "relieved him of" in 1973. I am a self-confessed gadget magpie. I can't tell you how everything works – but I am known world-wide for using a product until I have a full understanding of what it does, what its limitations are, and if it excels in any given area...or not.

Comments

My brother had his bottle of soda not tightly screwed in his bookbag. The bottle completely spilled out in is bag and dunked his iphone 3gs in soda. We took his phone and left it in a container of uncooked white rice (filipino household) for 2 days. Everything worked fine except there was some spots under the screen which never went away. Don’t know what the acid in the soda did internally though. One of these smartphone emergency kits would have been great in such of an event!

I’d probably need to leave the myTouch in the box for a week after a washing machine accident, but I’m willing to give it a try. If it works, I’m going to be thoroughly impressed! I’ll drop it in a load later today, and post on the results in a week or so. Why not?! =)

I wanted to give an update on the myTouch 3G after having gone through the washing machine: I turned it on Sunday, and I found that the backlight was not working properly, although the phone would turn on. I shut it down and stuck it back in the box, and I am letting it site for another week. Worth noting are that the blue beads in the box are losing much of their color. A soaking like this definitely taxes them! I hope that they have enough life left in them to finish drying out the device, but after (at least) a 30 minute soaking, that may be overly optimistic.

Okay — just a heads up that I have washed the myTouch 3G with a load of laundry for the full cycle. I’ve wiped it down (although the spin cycle seems to have wrung most of the moisture out!), and I have put it in the DRY-ALL box. I’ll open it again and check on things next Sunday. =)

My wife once dropped her phone down a storm-drain. She called the city, and they were nice enough to come and retrieve it with a pair of very long tongs. But, the phone never worked again due to the moisture. Would have been great to have a device like this to dry it all out! Would have saved the cost of replacement.

I think I’d prefer 5-time use smartphone kit if I won, but I’d be happy with tablet kit too.

Wow. This thing sounds amazing. Even though you tested this and proven to work, I’m still in disbelief. Anyway, my wife’s phone had her phone wet (I should say soaked), but from a very different source. My then 9 month old daughter’s drool. Yes, drool. Its funny because with all the toys she have, she rather have the iPhone to chew on. Anyway, my wife let her play with the phone long enough that her drool actually got soaked deep into the phone that everything just stopped working. I really didn’t do anything, as I’m sure it was toast. Left it alone for a couple of days and expect the worst. Well to my surprise, it worked again with just a minor reminder of what happened. Yup, till this day I can still see a big blob of weird pattern on the inside of the screen where the drool had sat.

My sister got into a car accident and her iPhone was ejected from the car and landed in a motor oil puddle. I had her turn off the phone and rinse it with water and dawn soap. After she was done I told her to put it in a bag with rice and seal it shut. Three days later her phone came on and worked. She didn’t want to risk it dieing so she got a new phone anyway.

I’ve had a close call back when I just got my iPhone 3GS almost two years ago. It was on the counter by the sink when it slid down and got a minor dunking, the speaker and mic grilles were clogged and for a few minutes I thought the phone was going to die. After a towel- and air-dry, however, it came back to life no worse for the wear, although I think the moisture indicator will tell the tale, should I ever need to get it repaired. As for which kit I’d prefer, the tablet kit please =).

My friend was trying to record himself playing the guitar but found that placing his iPhone on the table wasn’t close enough to the guitar to pick up a clean sound. Apparently the closest thing at the appropriate height was his big plastic 32 oz cup- full of water of course. He tried to place the phone horizontally over the top of the cup, and it stayed. However, when he reached for the phone to stop the recording after his song, he accidentally knocked it in the cup instead. Luckily, it was a quick dunk. He dried it in the sun and put in in a ziploc bag with a couple silica packets from a shoebox. It turned back on eventually, but has a slight discoloration on one portion of the screen. Would be great to have one of these dry-all kits for future dunks

I’d prefer the smartphone kit, but would also be fine with the tablet kit. Out of curiosity, what makes the tablet kit only good for one use?